Chapter 6

Maelynn jumped as she remembered something important, "Wooky, Maeve didn't ask for it, but did you get the herbs we need?"

Wooky nodded and dug through her pack, "We weren't able to find any sidos, but we did find some goodies, including ones that would make Maeve very happy. The herbs the two of you specified for the antidote were sort of tricky to find, but we did find them."

Maelynn sighed, "Good. Gwen will need to renew her change kind spell while we work on it. I was thinking of actually going to see the Sorceress and seeing if she could actually help. Maeve's good at identifying poisons, but I don't think she's that great with the antidotes."

Maevrin looked up from studying her poison sacks, "You know I generally don't have much call for people to actually live through my poisons. I will however be going with you to see the Sorceress. We shouldn't trust very many people without meeting them first."

Wooky shrugged, "Where munchkin goes, I go. Someone needs to keep her out of trouble."

Mae glared at Wooky, "You know I can keep her out of trouble."

"I meant without bodily harm and the tendency to twitch."

Mae pouted, "Spoil sport."

"I live to please."

Maeve, for her part was busy ignoring them, electing rather, to grin malevolently at the Masters that remained in the practice yard. It wouldn't have been so bad had she not been stroking her poison sacks. Ram Man, Buzz-off, and Stratos were starting to look rather nervous. Duncan was annoyed Adam and Mech-a-neck looked more amused than anything. Mae finally noticed what Maeve was doing. With a sigh she walked over and smacked the mini-elf on the back of the head, "Behave."

Maeve pouted, "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Duncan grinned at the mini-elf, who stuck her tongue out at him. He was about to say something to her when one of the king's footmen came running up to him. He frowned and turned to the out of breath man. "Sir," gasped the man, "the king wishes to speak with you, Prince Adam, and the…elves."

"Where?"

"His Majesty's study."

"How fast does he want us there?"

"Take your time, sir," the footman looked behind him nervously, "I'm just running from a wolf and a leopard that seem to have decided that I was their new playmate." He shuddered before yelping and taking off. The two aforementioned animals streaked off after him.

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Wooky grinned as they entered King Randor's study. The source of her amusement was in the fact that Gwen and Galdier were already there and were still bickering and Randor's eyes were bouncing back and forth between the couple. Marlena, seated at her king's side was laughing softly. Adam made his way over to his mother; he hoped to stay out of Randor's sight for a bit.

"Gwen, just go ahead and forgive him already. You know you can't stay mad at him forever. Besides, you agree that you don't want to fight anymore big spiders ever again." Wooky laughed.

Gwen's head snapped around to glare at her sister, "That is beside the fact. I don't want that man to forbid me from fighting when he knows that I'm bloody well able to take care of myself. I'm a soldier and I've been through more scrapes than he can even imagine!"

Galdier was starting to look frantic, "I'm not meaning to suffocate you, love. You know I'm not. I just don't want to loose you."

Gwen pouted, "I can still take care of myself. If you're that worried, you can come with us next time." Galdier nodded eagerly. He was out of trouble. (AN: The mandatory newly wed mushies are now out of the way)

Randor cleared his throat, "As touching and amusing as this has been, can we please get to the reason why I've asked you all here?"

Maeve grinned, "Sure, why did you ask us here?"

Randor frowned, "You know, most people are infinitely more polite than that."

Wooky grinned, "Well, sir, if Maeve starts acting polite, then you know it isn't her, or she's up to something, or she wants something. In any case, a polite Maeve is a frightening thing."

Randor sighed, "Alright, moving on. I asked the lot of you here so that I could offer the use of some of our guest rooms to you. I would rather you stay close so that you will be on hand to help us with Adam's poison."

Gwen nodded, "That makes sense, especially when one takes into account that we're the only ones that seem to know anything about the poison."

Maelynn frowned at her, "Maevrin's the only one that knows about the poison, don't pair me with her." Maeve stuck her tongue out at her tall friend.

Wooky sighed, "Whatever. Sir, I agree that we should stay here just in case, but if you are worried about an emergency with Prince Adam, then I'd suggest that you place us near the prince," she nodded towards Adam who looked at her sheepishly, "We'll need to get to him fast if something happens to him. We'll also need to visit the Sorceress tomorrow so that we can get the antidote made."

Randor nodded, "Granted. Will four rooms be sufficient?"

Gwen and Galdier shook their heads, "We'll need to stay together. No offence intended, sir, but we still don't trust humans all that much. We've been at war with them for too long."

Randor nodded, "Understandable, so two rooms? I'm assuming the other three will want one room and the two of you the other."

Maeve and Wooky both made disgusted faces, "Yes, please." Maelynn just laughed.

Marlena smiled briefly before looking seriously at the elfin party, "My husband is trying to be diplomatic, but you must understand why I ask this of you. How much do you know about the situation here?" Randor frowned and tensed up; they didn't need to know more than what had been fed to most of the outlying continents. Adam, for his part, looked confused if the elves knew what was going on, they might be able to help.

Wooky frowned and looked to Gwen. Gwen just shrugged and nodded, giving Wooky the signal to go ahead. Wooky sighed, "Well, we know about as much as any soldier would know, ma'am. We know that you are at war with someone on you own land or continent, but we don't know whom. We do know that you've been taking diplomatic steps to gain allies, and that for humans you are okay. We know enough about your war to know that you're going to be at it for a long while unless something happens to break it."

Maevrin fidgeted before speaking, "I know that I've heard something about there being a small group at the center of all the trouble. I've heard rumors that the cabal is made up of monsters for the most part. Beyond that, I'm as in the dark about it as they are, when you people keep things quiet, you keep things quiet." Gwen frowned; the nin of the group didn't know much more than they did, that just smelled of all sorts of bad things.

Marlena nodded, "That's all I wanted to know. If the Sorceress feels that you need to know more, she'll tell you."

Randor relaxed, "Adam and Duncan will be escorting you to Castle Grayskull to meet with the Sorceress, tomorrow. I trust you can keep out of trouble until then?" He stood and walked to the door, "Henry," he spoke to one of the footmen, "will you escort these ladies and man to the two guestrooms across from the Prince's room?" The footman bowed and gestured for the elves to follow him.

Duncan studied his old friend for the few moments it took for the elves to leave, "Why did you want me here, Your Majesty?"

Randor sighed, "I wanted your judgment, were they telling us the truth?"

Duncan hesitated before nodding, "They told us the truth as they knew it. I don't know if they know more than they're telling, but I do think that if they do, they don't know they do. I know that didn't make much sense."

Adam spoke up, "It makes some sense, Duncan. They might think that what they've heard could be a frightened populace. Who in their right minds would believe there is a skeleton leading a powerful army in Eternia? I, for one, wouldn't believe it myself had I not seen it."

Randor nodded, wars were ripe for gossip and horror stories, some of which, while real, were unbelievable.

Duncan frowned, "Your Majesties, I think it might be wise to tell the elves. They might be of some help to us, or at least tell us some useful spells we could pass onto our spell casters."

Randor ran a hand through his hair, "You might be right, Duncan, but let us wait until the Sorceress gives us her opinion."

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The next morning Adam walked briskly over to one of the rooms housing the elves. He didn't know which group was in the room, but he knew they needed to get to Grayskull as soon as possible. He eyed the door nervously before straightening his back and knocking. At that moment he heard a yelp and a thud. The door opened to reveal Maelynn looking rather smug. "Adam, how nice to see you this fine morning, please do come in." She moved aside to let him see the veritable pandemonium the three elves had wrought.

Adam stared in awe at the complete and utter mess that had been made of the guest quarters. Furniture had been overturned, cat hair was everywhere, as was wolf hair. The sheets were torn up and there were burn marks on the walls and carpet. Maevrin…Maevrin was literally climbing the wall to get away from the wolf and the leopard, both of which looked like they wanted Maeve burgers. Wooky was propped up against the wall and completely overcome with laughter, between laughs she managed to gasp out, "And that, rookie, is why you do not poke cats…or dogs for that matter."

Maevrin, happily, had finally reached a place where she was safely out of harm's way, "They were snoring! Cats and dogs are not supposed to snore! I had to poke them to preserve what's left of my sanity!" she whined.

Adam, still shell-shocked by the mess, looked over to Maelynn. Mae smiled sympathetically, "This is a day in my life. Don't worry, we will fix things up…rather I'll have to magic things right."

"Adam!" cried Maeve, "How are you feeling, we need to get Gwen up so she can renew her spell on you and then we can be on our way." She turned a manic grin to Wooky, "She's your sister, so you get the pleasure of making with the wakies."

Wooky glared at Maeve, "You do know, I'm the one that Bob listens to…."

Maeve grinned, "You do know that I can kill both of you in your sleep quite easily, don't you?"

Adam looked alarmed at the threat, "You do know that I would have to report that if you did…."

Maeve and Wooky turned to the prince and grinned, "Yep!" before turning back and bickering at each other.

Maelynn turned to Adam, "Relax, they're just behaving normally. Maeve won't actually attack and kill us…at least I think she won't. Maybe if she was ordered to…. Okay, that was just a downright disturbing thought," she turned and looked sternly at the diminutive elf, "Maeve! You wouldn't kill us, right? Even if your clan ordered you to?"

Maevrin looked startled at the abrupt change of topic. She was so startled that she nearly fell off the wall into the maws of the beasts beneath her. She quickly scrambled back up the wall to a ledge above her. Looking down, she glared at Maelynn, "Don't do that to me! And for your information, if they wanted you dead then they'd want me dead as well. So, no, I wouldn't turn on you, even if they wouldn't want me dead. That didn't make sense, did it? Anyway, I'm loyal to my friends. They'd have to go through me to get to you, and they know that. The only reason why I'm not viewed as a traitor is the fact that I'm actually bringing honor to the clan with our little adventures."

Maelynn put on her best "simpering maiden look" and replied, "That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to us."

Maevrin grinned, "Yeah, I know, thanks ever so much. Now, all you need to do is sleep through the night, secure in the fact that you think I won't kill you…."

Wooky sighed, "Joy, way to lull us into a false sense of security. Anyways, one of us does have to wake up Gwen. I guess I'll surrender to the inevitable, as I do know how to wake her up without getting killed…. Just remember I want this on my tombstone, 'stupidity should hurt, preferably the person that's being stupid, as was I when I woke up Gwen.'" She got up with a groan and sauntered out of the room.

Adam turned to look at the only evident sane person of the group, "Please, please, please tell me they're not always like that, Maelynn."

Maelynn smiled reassuringly at Adam, "They're not always like this…sometimes they're worse…then again sometimes they're better too. They have very mercurial personalities. If it helps any, there are typically three sane people in our group…."

Adam groaned, "Newly weds are never sane."

They both turned to as a blood-curdling scream sounded from down the hall, both resigned to the inevitable strain to their sanity. Maevrin had managed to make her way over to them in time to witness Wooky's flight from the room of doom, her sister (thankfully fully clothed) was hot on her tail. Galdier followed at a more leisurely pace. Wooky grinned as she skidded to a halt behind Prince Adam. Bob immediately went to his mistress' side. The wolf quickly rushed to its favorite person, Gwen. Gwen fell with a yelp, brought down by an enthusiastic puppy. Just like that, sanity, or the semblance thereof was restored. It is amazing what a knock on the head can do.

Adam stared at the odd group and wished that he could run far, far away.

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Duncan stared at the group in front of him distrustfully, they were looking entirely too innocent. He'd only known them for a day and already he knew the basic rule of survival around them, those that look innocent, typically aren't. "I know you did something," he addressed Maeve, who looked indignant, "but I do not want to know what. Come along, we've got to get you to the Sorceress before anything else happens." He led them off to the road to Grayskull. As he started walking he heard the ninja hiss indignantly, "Why does everyone assume I'm the one that does it all?"

"Because," muttered Maelynn, "you typically are."

Adam rushed over to Duncan's side, "Finally," he whispered, "Sanity incarnate. Thank you for being sane."

Duncan glanced over at his young friend, "It was that bad?"

Adam shuddered, "You have no idea..."